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Professor Marc Edelman Participates in FAO Consultation

On January 14, 2014, Prof. Marc Edelman took part in the North American Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) consultation on the zero draft principles of "responsible agricultural investment" (RAI) developed by the FAO Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The RAI principles are intended to provide guidelines for investors and to control the worst excesses of the recent wave of global land grabbing. The consultation, held at the State Department in Washington with a video link to a parallel meeting in Ottawa, included NGOs, farm worker organizations, and faith-based groups, as well as representatives of the US government, international financial institutions and corporations involved in agriculture (in the CFS "Private Sector Mechanism"). In 2010 civil society participants in the CFS rejected the World Bank-initiated "principles of responsible agricultural investment" (PRAI). The current RAI "zero draft" will be revised on the basis of consultations in different world regions and a new draft will be negotiated in April and May. A stronger RAI draft will be considered for adoption by the full CFS in October 2014.